Publisher Description

The burning in Waco of the Branch Davidian compound and the Oklahoma City bombing have heightened fear of American extremist groups. Jeffrey Kaplan combines interviews, correspondence, and publications not hitherto accessible to examine the cultic milieu in which these religious movements exist. Kaplan discusses several radical belief systems, but concentrates on three of the more prominent groups. They include the Christian Identity, whose members believe they are the true Aryan descendants of Israeli biblical tribes; Odinism and the related Asatru movement, which attempts to reconstruct the practices of Norse-Germanic paganism; and B'bai Noah, the anti-Christian movement in favor of God's covenant with Noah. To explain the existence and durability of religious cults, he applies the philosophy of Colin Campbell. From Martin Marty, he employs the mapping theory to place the movements in the sphere of American spirituality. His work details how the groups interact, the internal organizational friction, and how the private anti-cult groups--the Anti-Defamation League, Klanwatch, and Cult Awareness Network--monitor the activity of the movements. He argues that right-wing violence is primarily an impulsive act carried out by part-time revolutionaries against convenient targets or against that which represents change in the status quo. Thought provoking in his analysis, Kaplan lays bare the issues for current debate--how sectarian organizations, far outside the mainstream of American religious life, pose a significant challenge to prevailing conceptions of the First Amendment. He questions the extent to which even the most antagonistic and despised groups can carry out fanatical actions and still benefit from such protection.

Author Biography

Jeffrey Kaplan is assistant professor of social science at Ilisagvik College in Barrow, Alaska.

Review

In a sterling example of comparative religion, Kaplan describes forces gathering in America on the eve of what
may be the wildest party in a thousand years--the turn of the millennium and, with it, apocalypse. He focuses on
three groups: the fairly well known Christian Identity; the slightly more outre Odinists, who hark back to some
imagined Viking forebears; and the B'nai Noah, a pro-Semitic group with obvious disparities between their
beliefs and those of the other two. . . . Kaplan's academic approach provides welcome detachment from the often unsavory characters he details, yet he never lets us forget that these are real people.-- "Booklist"

Promotional

A provocative work on three groups associated with the violent radical religious right, their apocalyptic doctrine, and rejection of mainstream American culture.

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